Spectroscopic studies of laser-produced plasmas formed in CO and CO2 using 193, 266, 355, 532 and 1064 nm laser radiation

The wavelength dependence of laser-produced breakdown in air, CO and CO₂ has been studied using the four Nd:YAG harmonics (266 nm, 355 nm, 532 nm and 1064 nm) and the ArF-excimer laser (193 nm). Breakdown thresholds at these wavelengths are reported for air, CO and CO₂. A significant reduction in the breakdown thresholds for both CO and CO₂ is apparent when comparing 193 nm with the four Nd:YAG harmonics. This reduction is attributed to the resonance-enhanced two-photon ionization of metastable carbon atoms generated in the laser focus at the ArF-laser wavelength. In addition to reporting breakdown thresholds, the laser-produced plasmas in CO and CO₂ are characterized in terms of plasma temperatures and electron densities which are measured by time-resolved emission spectroscopy. Electron densities range from 9 × 10¹⁷ cm^–3 to 1 × 10₁₇ cm^–3. Excitation temperatures range from 22 000 K at 0.2 µs to 11 000 K at 2 µs. Ionization temperatures range from 22 000 K at 0.1 µs to 16 000 K at 2 µs. Evidence is presented to indicate that, like ArF-laser-produced plasmas, Nd:YAG-laser-produced plasmas formed in CO and CO₂ are in or near a state of Local Thermodynamic Equilibrium (LTE) soon after their formation.     

Thermodynamic and Transport Properties of Ablated Vapors of PTFE, Alumina, Perspex, and PVC in the Temperature Range 5000-30 000 K

Values of density, specific heat, enthalpy, sonic velocity, viscosity, thermal, and electrical conductivities have been calculated for the plasmas of PTFE, alumina, Perspex, and PVC for temperatures from 5000 to 30 000 K. Equilibrium particle concentrations and degrees of ionization are calculated using the minimization of Gibbs free energy, and transport properties are calculated using the Chapman-Enskog approximations.     

A spectroscopic investigation of high-current discharges in rarefied air

Measured values of air emittance at 35 000°K at low pressures are given. It is shown that the plasmas were in thermodynamic equilibrium. The results obtained are compared with theory.     

Nucleation of wave defects and formation of optical localized structures in bi-directional ring lasers

This work is a contribution to the calculation of transport coefficients for nitrogen, hydrogen, Mars and Titan atmospheres plasmas. The calculation which assumes local thermodynamic equilibrium is performed using Lennard-Jones potential and simple combining rules for the potential parameters for neutral-neutral interaction. A discussion is made for the other interactions: neutral-charged, charged-charged and electron-neutral. The results are compared with those of published theoretical studies for a temperature up to 30 000 K.     

Comparison of excessive Balmer /spl alpha/ line broadening of inductively and capacitively coupled RF, microwave, and glow-discharge hydrogen plasmas with certain catalysts

From the width of the 656.3-nm Balmer /spl alpha/ line emitted from inductively and capacitively coupled radio frequency (RF), microwave, and glow-discharge plasmas, it was found that inductively coupled RF helium-hydrogen and argon-hydrogen plasmas showed extraordinary broadening corresponding to an average hydrogen atom energy of 250-310 and 180-230 eV, respectively, compared to 30-40 and 50-60 eV, respectively, for the corresponding capacitively coupled plasmas. Microwave helium-hydrogen and argon-hydrogen plasmas showed significant broadening corresponding to an average hydrogen atom energy of 180-210 and 110-130 eV, respectively. The corresponding results from the glow-discharge plasmas were 33-38 and 30-35 eV, respectively, compared to /spl ap/ 4 eV for plasmas of pure hydrogen, neon-hydrogen, and xenon-hydrogen maintained in any of the sources. Similarly, the average electron temperatures T/sub e/ for helium-hydrogen and argon-hydrogen inductively coupled RF and microwave plasmas were high (43 200 /spl plusmn/ 5% K, 18 600 /spl plusmn/ 5% K, 30 500 /spl plusmn/ 5% K, and 13 700 /spl plusmn/ 5% K, respectively); compared to 9300 /spl plusmn/ 5% K, 7300 /spl plusmn/ 5% K, 8000 /spl plusmn/ 5% K, and 6700 /spl plusmn/ 5% K for the corresponding plasmas of xenon-hydrogen and hydrogen alone, respectively. Stark broadening or acceleration of charged species due to high electric fields cannot explain the inductively coupled RF and microwave results since the electron density was low and no high field was present. Rather, a resonant energy transfer mechanism is proposed.     

On the Stark broadening of the He I 447.1 nm spectral line

Characteristics of the Stark broadened and overlapping 447.1 nm He I spectral line and its forbidden 447.0 nm components have been measured at electron densities between 4.4×10²² m^-3 and 8.2×10²² m^-3 and electron temperatures between 18 000 K and 33 000 K in plasmas created in five various discharge conditions using the low pressure pulsed arc as an optically thin plasma source operated in helium-nitrogen-oxygen gas mixture. Good agreement was found among our measured line characteristics and their existing calculated values, based on the quasistatic approximation. Possible influence of the singly ionized oxygen impurity atoms (O II) on the intensity values of the dip between allowed and forbidden components was found that can explain the disagreement among some existing experimental and calculated line characteristics data, at higher electron temperatures and densities. On the basis of the observed asymmetry of the 447.1 nm spectral line profile we have obtained the ion contribution parameter at 10²² m^-3 electron density and 8 000 K electron temperature. Received 20 February 2001 and Received in final form 25 April 2001     

Determination of equilibrium composition of C x H y O z N t plasmas out of thermodynamic equilibrium

In this paper, we determine the composition of C_xH_yO_zN_t plasmas out of thermodynamic equilibrium using a more rigorous thermodynamic derivation of the Saha equation modified to two-temperature plasma system proposed by Chen et al. The calculation is made for these plasmas in pressure range 0.1-1 MPa and for electron temperature range 5 000-30 000 K. A great attention is given to the evolution of the major species such as hydrogen components (H, H₂), carbon monoxide (CO) and electrons. We compared the results obtained with our previous experimental and theoretical studies; the latter one has been carried out in equilibrium situation. We also compared our results with those given by the method based on the minimization of the Gibbs free energy widely used in the literature. Received 29 December 2000 and Received in final form 28 August 2001     

GMAW电弧等离子体平衡成分计算及其在光谱学中的应用

计算了常压下3 000～25 000 K范围内熔化极气体保护焊(GMAW)保护气体Ar,CO₂,82%Ar-18%CO₂及其与Fe蒸汽的混合物的平衡成分。上述气体被看作一种Ar-CO₂-Fe等离子体,等离子体中的39种粒子被分为5种主元粒子和34种非主元粒子。根据化学方程,非主元粒子由主元粒子表示以减少未知数的个数和求解量,再利用牛顿迭代法对平衡方程进行求解,最终实现了成分求解。计算结果表明,Ar气随着温度升高依次发生一次电离和二次电离,CO₂气体除了在高温时发生原子电离外,在低温时(T<8 000 K)还存在CO₂,O₂,CO等分子的解离,82%Ar-18%CO₂混合气则既有解离又有电离。Fe的加入会增加等离子体的电子密度,特别是在15 000 K以下。等离子体成分的确定为GMAW电弧等离子体辐射属性计算以及电弧中Fe蒸汽浓度的光谱测定奠定了基础。     

Ionization and Cohesion in Dense Plasmas

Approximate formulas are derived for the critical density and pressure at which the atoms of hydrogen-like plasmas become ionized due to overlapping of the wave functions. By this mechanism, not only the thermally excited but also the ground state atoms of alkali plasmas become ionized already at moderate pressures. Numerical examples are given for H, Li, Na, K, Rb, and Cs plasmas. It is shown that the (negative) electron-ion interaction energy balances the (positive) thermal energy for sufficiently high electron densities (e.g., n ~ 1020 cm-3 for T ~ 104 K) so that the plasma assumes a cohesive state similar to that of a (liquid) metal. From the quantum effects, the electron exchange energy contributes significantly to this "self-containment" of dense plasmas.     

等离子体X射线吸收谱及发射谱研究

 报道计算高温高密等离子体吸收谱和发射谱（光学薄）的理论方法；该方法基于相对论原子理论，可以计算任何单元素以及多元素等离子体的谱分辨X射线吸收谱和发射谱（光学薄）；应用了量子亏损理论，可以减少计算量。利用该方法计算金等离子体LTE吸收谱，计算结果与实验符合良好。本文还对金等离子体LTE的光学薄发射谱进行了研究, 这将有利于对实验进行进一步的诊断分析。该理论计算方法还可提供等离子体内各电离度能级布居等重要物理参数。因此经“标准实验”检验的该理论计算方法将是提供ICF“精密”物理辐射参数的重要基础。     

Calculation of radiative heat transfer in SF6 arcplasmas

Radiation transport in SF₆ are plasmas have been treated for pressures of 0.101, 0.5, and 1.0 MPa. We have investigated the use of an approximate method of partial characteristics. We have calculated spectral absorptivities for SF₆ plasmas for temperatures from 300 to 35 000 K, and have used these absorptivities to calculate the two functions designated ΔI and ΔSim. These functions are integrals over all radiation frequencies for given line segments with a linear variation of temperature along the line. The ΔI and ΔSim values are functions of the end temperatures and the length of the line, and are used to evaluate radiation transfer from line segments in the plasma where the temperature variation for each line segment is approximated as being linear. The validity of this method of partial characteristics has been demonstrated by comparing exact calculations with the approximate calculations to evaluate radiation intensities, radiation fluxes, and divergence of radiation fluxes for specified temperature profiles. The method of partial characteristics has been applied to one- and three-dimensional calculations of radiative heat transfer in simplified temperature profiles. Agreement up to 10% is obtained with exact calculations, but with a large reduction of computation time     

Radiation emission coefficients for sulfur hexafluoride arc plasmas

Calculations are made of the total spectral absorptivities of plasmas of sulfur hexafluoride for wavelengths of 100 to 15,500 Å. Both line and continuum radiation are considered. For the contributions from line radiation, we have calculated the strengths, widths and shifts of both neutral, singly and doubly ionized atoms of S and F, except that we used experimental line strengths where they are available. The theory used was that of Griem, which assumes LS coupling. Curves are given for the emission coefficient of radiation appropriate to the arc center for isothermal cylindrical plasmas of various radii for pressures of 1 and 10 atm and temperatures from 5000 to 35,000°K. It is found that at 1 atm line radiation can be an order of magnitude higher than continuum radiation and radiation >2000 Å is less than 10% of the total radiation for temperatures greater than 15,000°K. Predictions are given of volt-ampere characteristics and central temperatures for arcs of various radii in SF₆ at pressures at 1 and 10 atm.     

仪器展宽对大气压等离子体电子密度测量的影响

实验使用两台不同的单色仪,采用光谱线型法测量了大气压氩气介质阻挡放电中的电子密度.诊断结果表明,由于不同的单色仪其仪器加宽不同,仪器加宽对总的光谱线型有较大影响.通过考虑等离子体中的各种加宽机制,采用卷积和反卷积的方法对氩原子发射谱线线型进行了分析,从整个光谱线型中分离出Stark线型,排除了仪器加宽对最终诊断结果的影响.从而最终测量了大气压氩气介质阻挡放电中的电子密度.测量得到在大气压氩气介质阻挡放电中单个放电丝存在时,电子温度为10000K时,电子密度约为3.05-3.26×1021 m-3.此方法不仅可以应用在大气压介质阻挡放电中,还可以用于测量其它大气压等离子体电子密度.     

Synthesis of Ultrafine Silicon Carbide Powders in Thermal Arc Plasmas

Ultrafine ?-SiC powders are synthesized in thermal plasmas by a reaction between methane and silicon monoxide. The reaction is carried out in an unconfined plasma jet (22.5 kW) operating at atmospheric Ar pressure. High temperatures (> 10 000 K) combined with ultrarapid quench rates (? 106 K/s) of the plasma lead to a high degree of supersaturation of the chemical vapor, resulting in homogeneous nucleation of ultrafine particles. Product characterizations are pursued with X-ray diffraction analysis, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), scanning, and transmission electron microscopy. The maximum SiC yield determined by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) is 97.3 percent. Particle size analyses show a bimodal distribution with the majority of the particles falling in a size range from 2 to 40 nm. Triangular and hexagonal SiC particles are observed throughout this work and the nucleation and growth of these particles are discussed.     

Wigner crystallization and its relation to the poor decay of pair correlations in one-component plasmas of arbitrary dimension

We study various consequences of crystalline ordering in one-component (ordinary and surface) plasmas of arbitrary dimension, especially its relation to the poor decay of the pair correlation function. We considerably improve and presumably optimize the various known bounds on its decay at infinity and scrutinize the usual arguments claiming absence of crystallization in two-dimensional plasmas.     

Plasma domains in extrinsic GaAs and InP

Various parameters are introduced relevant to criteria for physical domains in solid-state plasmas. Application is made to extrinsic GaAs and InP at 300 K and varying charge-carrier concentrations. At concentrations less than ~ 10¹⁵ cm^?3, charge-carrier plasmas for both p- and n-type semiconductors, respectively, are classical and weakly coupled. At a concentration of 10¹⁶ cm^?1 the plasmas grow degenerate. At a concentration of 10¹⁷ cm^?3 both p-type materials approach a degenerate state whereas both n-type materials are weakly-coupled degenerate.     

Partition functions of atomic and diatomic species in high-temperature atmospheric plasmas

Accurate atomic and diatomic partition functions are required to determine the level populations for the calculations of radiative properties in thermodynamic equilibrium and nonequilibrium plasmas produced by various atmospheric re-entries. In this work, a reliable partition functions database was rebuilt for some atomic and diatomic species from 100 K to 50000 K. The atomic partition functions were obtained by a four-level model, while the diatomic partition functions were predicted based upon a more rigorous approach for the computation of the energy levels. Compared with previous publications, the number of diatomic electronic states considered in our work is as large as possible. Estimates are made for the contributions of each electronic state of the diatomic molecule to the partition function. Moreover, the effect of the number of electronic states on the partition function was also evaluated. Finally, we calculated the specific heat based upon the obtained partition functions. All the results were validated by the available data in recent references and the relative errors were systematically analysed.     

Calculation of radiative heat transfer in argon arc plasmas

Radiation emission and absorption in arc plasmas are important energy transfer processes. Exact calculations, though possible in principle, are usually impossible in practice because of the need to treat a large number of spectral lines and also the continuum radiation in the whole spectrum range. Recently, we have used an approximate method of partial characteristics to evaluate the radiation intensities, radiation fluxes and the divergence of radiation fluxes for SF₆ arc plasma with cylindrical symmetry. In this paper, we have extended our calculations toargon arc plasmas for the plasma pressures of 0.1, 0.5 and 1.0 MPa. We have calculated the coefficients of absorption for Ar plasmas at temperatures from 300 to 35 000 K, and have used these coefficients to calculate the partial characteristics. Both the continuum and the line spectra have been included in calculations. We have taken into account the radiative photo-recombination and bremsstrahlung for the continuous spectrum, and over 500 spectral lines for the discrete spectra.The method of partial characteristics has been applied to three-dimensional calculations of radiative heat transfer — i.e. radiation intensity, radiation flux and its divergence — in simplified temperature profiles. Conclusions have been made concerning validity and utilization of the method of partial characteristics in general gas dynamics problems.